Tea Party Protests YMCA, County Deal

CURRITUCK COUNTY, NC -- A newly formed group of Tea Party supporters is protesting a plan between Currituck County, NC, and the YMCA of South Hampton Roads to share construction costs for a new community recreation center.

In November 2009, the Currituck County Board of Commissioners entered a 30-year lease agreement with the YMCA in which the Y will lease part of a 50,000-square-foot community center. Construction on the center, which will be near Maple, NC, is expected to begin in December 2010.

But Charles Carter, founder of the Currituck Tea Party Patriots, called the agreement “one-sided,” and voiced concern about taxpayers taking on the brunt of operating costs for the center if the YMCA backs out of the deal in the future.

County commissioners reportedly approved $11.5 million for the new center’s construction, which would have cost $24 million if the county designed and built the facility on its own, said Dan Scanlon, county manager. The population is not sizable enough in that area to support a community center on its own, commissioners noted.